BOSTON —

A new real estate law takes effect in Massachusetts on Oct. 15, designed to prevent home sellers from accepting an offer based on a buyer waiving a home inspection. Supporters of the law say it'll protect buyers from unknowingly buying a money pit, while others say the law isn't needed because the market is already correcting itself.

Lenny Licari has done a lot of home inspections — 24,000 over 32 years in the industry. In that time, he's seen everything from homes nearly in perfect condition to those needing hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. So Licari doesn't understand why any buyer would be willing to waive a home inspection.

But that's exactly what happened in the red-hot real estate market following the pandemic. When the Greater Boston housing market went throu

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